Butter
A Tribe Called Quest
"Butter" - A Tribe Called Quest rides on a thick, walking upright bass loop lifted from Weldon Irvine, the kind of jazz sample that made the group's Low End Theory era a landmark. The production is warm and uncluttered, all pocket and swing, drums kept dry so the bassline can breathe. Phife Dawg owns this one almost entirely, his nasal, scrappy delivery sketching a rogue's gallery of women he's chased and been burned by — "butter" being his smooth-talking persona and also the easy mark he can't resist. There's bravado here, but it's self-aware and funny, Phife playing the lovable lothario who admits his own weaknesses between boasts. The lyric essence is romantic comedy in rhyme, gossipy and grounded in Queens specifics. Culturally this is golden-age boom-bap at its most musical, a corrective to the harder gangsta sound dominating early-'90s rap, proof that hip-hop could swing like a jazz combo. Q-Tip's brief turn adds contrast, but the track belongs to Phife's everyman charm. It's a song for headphones on a slow afternoon, or a barbecue where the crate-digging crowd nods along, the bassline doing the work of a dozen lesser beats. Effortless, conversational, eternally cool.
medium
1990s
warm, groovy, open
Queens, New York, USA
hip-hop. golden-age boom-bap. playful, confident. Opens with swaggering romantic boastfulness, drifts through self-aware comedy about repeated failures, and ends in charming, affectionate admission of weakness. energy 5. medium. danceability 7. valence 7. vocals: nasal, scrappy, witty, conversational, everyman charm. production: walking upright bass jazz sample, warm dry drums, uncluttered, pocket-and-swing groove. texture: warm, groovy, open. acousticness 4. era: 1990s. Queens, New York, USA. A slow afternoon with headphones or a barbecue where the crate-diggers nod along and the bassline does the work of a dozen lesser beats.